The Camps

It turned out that when Angnak was furious beyond measure, he really did nothing more than get angry for a moment.

In his rage, he attacked the Four Divine Beasts. They had been standing at the outermost edge of the Sovereigns, near the Plane Battlefield, and were caught off guard by his first strike. After dodging, they regrouped.

Angnak, meanwhile, had charged far beyond the Sovereigns' range. Once the Four Divine Beasts had regrouped, they turned and unleashed their Combined Innate Divine Ability on him.

Orloff had seen that the battle had already begun, but Angnak was a Sovereign on his side. Before the facts were clear, attacking the Four Divine Beasts would violate the agreement forbidding higher-ranking Sovereigns from attacking lower-ranking ones. So he happened to arrive between the two sides and intervened.

But the Four Divine Beasts had been hiding their strength. Their Combined Innate Divine Ability was terrifyingly powerful, and it killed Angnak in a single blow.

Angnak's body was not on the level of a Sovereign Artifact, so when he died, it instantly shattered and vanished. Only his Destiny Intermediate God Spark remained, hurtling toward the Plane Battlefield under the pull of Spatial Turbulence.

Angnak had died so suddenly that none of the Sovereigns had expected him to be the one who would fall, and they were all caught off guard. He had also been some distance away when he died. By the time the Sovereigns realized what had happened, it was too late—Desterie had already seized the Sovereign Spark and refined it.

After hearing all the details, Desterie couldn't help marveling at how powerful his Strong Luck really was. He had certainly broadened his horizons: he had encountered a bizarre story that sounded like pure fantasy and become its greatest beneficiary.

As the Plane War neared its end, Desterie suddenly noticed that Iluka had managed to find Dalayer amid the chaos.

He handed Dalayer a Spatial Ring, then hurried away.

Desterie suddenly remembered that he still hadn't told Dalayer what had happened to him. If she heard from someone else that he had been banished into Spatial Turbulence, that would be bad. So he sent her a direct message. "After the Plane War ends, go straight back to the Netherworld. I'll wait for you there."

Then he sent a message to the Sovereign of Death. "My lady, we're going to protect Iluka, right? The Fate System Sovereigns probably won't let him go. But he helped the Netherworld win. If we let anything happen to him, it'll damage the Netherworld's standing too!"

At this point, Desterie had to choose between Orloff and the Sovereign of Death. No one would tolerate him sitting on the fence.

Normally, Orloff was the strongest and the best choice. But it was hard to trust someone who abandoned others; if Desterie turned his back on the Sovereign of Death now, there was no telling whether Orloff would abandon him later. And although the Sovereign of Death was weaker than both Orloff and Uthred, the Sovereign of Life, Vivian, firmly stood on her side.

Most importantly, the Supreme God of Destruction's mission was currently underway. Whether this was the first attempt or the second, it proved that Orloff hadn't yet obtained both Supreme Artifacts. With both Supreme God Tokens in Desterie's hands, neither Orloff nor Uthred had any chance of completing the mission this time.

That gave Desterie the confidence to stand against Orloff.

Iluka had spared him and Dalayer earlier, helped build up his reputation, and just now given something to Dalayer. Desterie couldn't simply ignore him.

The Sovereign of Death sent back a chuckling message. "I was planning to protect him anyway. But you're a Fate Sovereign, and you're worrying about the Netherworld's standing. Isn't that a little strange?"

Desterie smiled. "I may be a Fate Sovereign, but I'm also following you. You've looked after me countless times before, and just now you spoke up for me more than once. If I don't follow you, who else should I follow?"

At that, the Sovereign of Death smiled even more broadly, her eyes crinkling with delight. "Desterie, I'm glad I didn't misjudge you. Listen carefully: my name is Lilith."

Hearing the Sovereign of Death, Lilith, Desterie met her gaze, showing that they were of one mind, and smiled.

Before long, the Netherworld had won the second Galaxy Channel outright. The Plane War ended with the Netherworld bringing Heaven's Ten-Win Streak to a close!

Since Iluka had switched sides in the middle of the battle and helped the Netherworld win, the surviving commanders and soldiers representing Heaven watched the traitor with hatred and fear as they returned. Iluka, however, was completely unmoved.

Any of the ten passages between the planes could be used to enter or leave the Plane Battlefield; one could choose any of them.

Iluka had made enemies of all the Fate System Sovereigns, and he had no intention of returning through Heaven. The safest route back was naturally toward the Netherworld. Besides, as soon as he returned, he planned to leave the Supreme Plane as quickly as possible and head back to the Material Plane, where he could resume his reclusive life for countless years.

Seeing where he was headed, the other six Fate System Sovereigns also began moving toward the Netherworld. They intended to descend there in person!

Seeing Orloff and the others set off, the Sovereign of Life and the Sovereign of Destruction said their farewells in turn.

After Vivian and Uthred left, the Sovereign of Death, Desterie, and the other Sovereigns who usually resided in the Netherworld naturally hurried back as well.

In the Netherworld, at Yangu Mountain in Jiuyou Territory, all the soldiers guarding the array stood ready to welcome the "lucky survivors" who had escaped death and returned in triumph.

Anyone who returned alive from a battlefield known as a meat grinder and an Asura's graveyard could certainly be called lucky.

And on the Plane Battlefield, no one could outrun a Paragon Highgod. So the first to pass through the passage and reach the Netherworld was Iluka.

The Seven-Star Fiend whom Lord of Yangu had tasked with guarding the entrance had learned of Iluka's fame over the past thousand years, but had never seen his likeness or sensed his aura. He didn't recognize him as a Paragon Highgod, but knew he had to be powerful. So he greeted him warmly. "Congratulations! To make it out of there alive—may I ask if you earned enough military merits? If you've collected ten, you can go straight to the Sovereigns to exchange them for a Sovereign Artifact. You won't need to register with me!"

Iluka glanced at him. In that brief moment, he had already used Sovereign's Might to determine his bearings. He immediately decided to head for the Nether Sea Teleportation Array, then shot straight into the sky.

But just as he burst out of Yangu Mountain, an attack of utterly bizarre soul energy came at him, carrying an all-consuming killing intent!

There was no time to dodge! Iluka smiled bitterly. So trying to escape right under a Sovereign's nose had been nothing but wishful thinking. He closed his eyes. Even a Paragon was doomed when facing a Sovereign in person.

But at that very moment, an equally mysterious aura connected with the aura of something hanging from his body. It instantly pulled him toward it, allowing him to narrowly evade the fatal attack.

The soul attack struck the mountain instead. Its shockwave killed a large number of Highgods indiscriminately, clearing the battlefield in an instant.